Dalit man murdered in Gujarat, third in a month

A Dalit man was allegedly murdered by a group of upper caste men in Botad district, about 150 km from Ahmedabad, on Wednesday. Police said that the accused hit his motorcycle from behind and then beat him up so brutally that he succumbed to his injuries. This is the third such incident in less than a month in the state in which Dalits were killed by the upper caste men.

According to Botad police, Manjibhai Solanki was attacked from behind by a group of men driving a car. Police said that Solanki was riding a motorcycle. After he fell on the ground, the accused started beating him. One of his legs was broken and started bleeding.

After the accused left the spot Solanki called his relatives who took him to a hospital in Dhandhuka from where he was referred to civil hospital Ahmedabad. According to superintendent of police, Botad, Harshad Mehta, Solanki died on way to Ahmedabad civil hospital. He said Solanki had named five to six accused from his village Jalila in Ranpur taluka of Botad district. The accused belong to the Darbar community.

Metha added: "primary information suggests that there was an old enmity between the victim and the accused. But we don't know what exactly is the dispute."

When contacted, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Bhavanagar range, Ashok Yadav said that the accused have been identified and will be arrested soon. According to sources, Solanki's wife is sarpanch of the village due to which there has been a dispute between the group of accused and Solanki.

Solanki's relative claimed that he had sought police protection from the accused which was not given. Independent MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani tweeted on this incident to target the state government.

He added that the incident happened on the day when the state government led by chief minister Vijay Rupani held a meeting with senior officers on atrocities against SC/ST communities. Last week, one Prakash Parmar was hacked to death in Thangadh in Surendranagar. A month ago, a Dalit youth was killed by eight upper caste men allegedly for pursuing the murder of his father in Rajkot.